ROCKFORD, Ill.- Wednesday night in the Seaver Center featured a matchup between the Rockford University women's basketball team and the Edgewood College Eagles. It was an important matchup for the Regents who came into the game with a 4-5 record in conference play after winning two straight conference games against Lakeland and Marian and winning four out of their last five games. Edgewood came into the game with a 6-4 conference record and two spots ahead of the Regents in the standings. The Eagles brought with them a three game winning streak, including a win against Alverno, the third ranked team in the conference.
Rockford would be the first to put points on the scoreboard with a Lindsay Lengjak (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah) layup at the 18:53 mark. The Eagles would then dominate the next five minutes of the game going on a 17-2 that was broken up by a Katie Clark (Rock City, Ill./Dakota) jump shot in the paint. Edgewood would continue to hold a sizeable lead going into the second part of the first half before Rockford went on their first run of the game. It was started off by a Destiny Chaney (Belleville, Ill./O'Fallon Township) layup. Erin Ryczek (South Beloit, Ill./Hononegah) then scored the next five points for the Regents on two layups and a made free throw to bring the Regents within three. Edgewood's lead would sway little until the 4:16 mark when Lauren Hyser (Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere) made a free throw shot to bring the score to 33-31 Edgewood. The Eagles would push their lead back to five with 1:37 left in the first half. Rockford finished the half strong with a made free throw shot by Ryczek and a made jumper by Clark with two seconds left in the half to cut the Eagles lead back down to 2 and bring the score of the first half to 42-40 Edgewood. Rockford shot 16 for 32 from the field for the half and made 7 out of 9 free throw shots. Ryczek led the way for the Regents with ten points. Hyser had eight on three of four shooting. Clark and Chaney each had six points.
Rockford would start the second half slow and the Eagles took advantage of this and increased their two point lead to seven points four minutes into the second half. Arielle Nichols (Tampa, Fla./Land O'Lakes) would hit a big three in the corner to give the Regents some life but Edgewood would respond by going on a 6-0 run. A layup by Hyser would put the score at 57-49 Edgewood with 13:45 left in the game. The Eagles would maintain a sizeable lead until Mallorie Getzelman (Byron, Ill./Byron) hit a three pointer to cut the Eagles lead down to six. At the 7:22 mark Lengjak made a layup and also hit the free throw shot to cut Edgewood's lead down to four points. Edgewood would promptly hit a three pointer but Callie Rezin (Rockford, Ill./Lutheran) hit a mid-range jumper and Sherrell Woods (Rockford, Ill./East) followed that up with a steal and a quick layup to get the Regents back within three points. After a defensive stop Lengjak record an offensive rebound and made a falling down layup to put the score at 70-69 Edgewood with 5:30 left in the game. Lengjak kept the scoring going on Rockford's next possession by making a free throw to tie the game up.
Both teams then played solid defense until the 3:40 mark when Clark made a layup to give the Regents their first lead since making the first basket of the game. A short time later the Eagles would capitalize on an offensive rebound on a missed free throw by making a three pointer and going back up by one point. They would then make a layup and a short time and after that a free throw shot to go up 76-72 with two minutes left in the game. After a series of fouls and free throw shots Rezin made a layup with 25 seconds left to put the score at 80-76 Edgewood. The Eagles then missed both free throw shots and Rockford drove down the court and Nichols hit a clutch three pointer to cut the Eagles lead down to one with 16 seconds left in the game. Rockford fouled again but this time Edgewood made both free throws to bring the score to 82-79 with 15 seconds left. Ryczek would take a three pointer in the corner with eight seconds left but it would rim out. She would recover the rebound and find Nichols in the other corner with two seconds left but Nichols shot would hit just off of the rim to give the Eagles a 82-79 win. Lengjak scored a team high 16 points and also recorded 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. Ryczek finished with ten points and five rebounds. Also finishing with ten points were Hyser and Clark. Rezin scored nine points and also recorded four rebounds and three assists off of the bench. Also coming off the bench and contributing was Nichols who had eight points and three assists. Rockford shot 45% from the field for the game, 24% behind the three point line, and 15 of 19 from the line.
The loss puts the Regents record at 7-8 and 4-6 in conference play. Their next game is January 18th at Concordia Wisconsin at 4:15 p.m. Their next home game is three days later when they take on Dominican at 7:00 p.m.
